In 1991 the separation between the components was measured at 51.7", an increase since Messier's time. Data gathered by astronomers Brian Skiff (2001) and Richard L. Nugent (2002) strongly suggest that this is merely an optical double star rather than a physically connected system.[2]

The nearby nebula observed by Hevelius may have been the nearby ring galaxy NGC 4290. The galaxy, being 12th magnitude, may have been bright enough to notice for large telescopes at the time, but not quite bright enough for Messier.

In 2016, by using parallax measurements from the Gaia satellite, it was definitively proven that the two stars comprising the double star (HD 238107 and HD 238108) are entirely unrelated,[3] confirming the previous suggestion by Skiff and Nugent.